Program History

The Adopt-a-Park & Public Areas program was the very first ongoing Tucson Clean & Beautiful effort, and serves as our foundation in continuing to work with community volunteer groups to improve our environment and quality of life. The first Adopt-a-Park project was held at “A” Mountain (Sentinel Peak) on July 26, 1984 when a coalition of city and county government leaders, the business community, and volunteers from many community organizations joined forces. Recycling & Waste Reduction, and Urban Forestry efforts were added over the years, and more recently the organization has become involved in efforts to mitigate buffelgrass & invasives as part of overall public land stewardship goals.

Since its inception, Tucson Clean & Beautiful volunteers have contributed over 300,000 service hours at parks, washes, streets, paths/trails, and other public sites! This amazing impact includes over 20,000 service hours – valued at over $400,000 – given just in the past year!

Several new groups are just starting projects, and a handful of dedicated groups have continued their Adopt-a-Park & Public Areas commitment for more than two decades! Presently there are over 300 sites adopted by community groups, representing roughly 1/3 of our available locations. Take a look at the new map of available and adopted sites to see what groups are volunteering near you!

Thank you to our volunteer groups such as students from the University of Arizona who documented many of their volunteer efforts at many Tucson area organizations, and KOLD News 13 for its coverage!

For more information, email adoptapark@tucsoncleanandbeautiful.org or call Heatherlee, our Adopt-A-Site staff member, at (520) 661-6883.